The voice of reason in a troubled world

Zhang Yunbi

China is gaining ever-growing respect for its contribution of positive ideas, experts say.

China is coming up with ideas in economics and international diplomacy that are catching on in the world, but the country needs to sharpen its publicity skills and public diplomacy, observers say. As it does this, the sustained growth in its economic and political heft would be a powerful driver of its soft power, they maintain.

One of the Chinese ideas that has had a good reception in many major international organisations is the Community of Shared Destiny for Mankind, first proposed in a report by the Communist Party of China in November 2012 and to which President Xi Jinping has referred dozens of time since.

In February the Chinese concept was incorporated into a United Nations resolution for the first time when the 55th UN Commission for Social Development approved a motion. It calls for more support for Africa’s economic and social development by embracing the spirit of building “a human community with shared destiny”.

On March 1, at the 34th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Ma Zhaoxu, China’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, delivered a joint statement on behalf of 140 countries. The statement was titled “Promote and protect human rights and build a community of shared future for human beings”.

China should further nurture and expand its reserves of diplomacy and publicity to make its
voice better heardCui Liru, senior researcher

On March 17 UN Security Council Resolution 2344 was adopted, focusing on Afghanistan and honouring the China-led Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Since Mr Xi proposed them in 2013 they have become to be known jointly as the Belt and Road Initiative. The resolution said the Security Council welcomes and calls for further efforts to strengthen the process of regional economic co-operation, including through regional development initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, said that as China seeks peaceful development, its influence upon international and regional affairs has risen, a fact that “the international community has attached importance to and has planned to make use of.

“China should remain cool-headed, observe the world with an objective view. . . in order to promote the evolution of global governance as it continues to ensure core national interests are looked after and promoted,” Mr Su said.

Cui Liru, a senior researcher and former president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Research, said that behind the increasing popularity of China’s proposals and ideas is its taking a new role on the global stage. “China has been a quick learner in adapting itself to the reality of the international community, and it should further nurture and expand its reserves of diplomacy and publicity to make its voice better heard,” Mr Cui said.

China should also seek a delicate balance between taking greater duty on the global stage and developing its own strength and capacity as a major developing country, Mr Cui added.

Liu Jiangyong, vice-dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said the security context of China’s raising the community concept is that security issues have clouded the globe over the past two decades.

With the outbreak of regional major conflicts from time to time, the UN faces challenges. “The global community should make the UN Security Council undertaking a leading role in promoting sustainable security and development,” , Mr Liu said.

Wu Enyuan, a senior researcher of Russian studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said few countries have publicly shown opposition to the concepts China has put forward in recent years. “The reason is that they welcome China treating them in a way totally unlike their past colonisers,” he said.

The Chinese concepts “help tackle the law of the jungle and wealth disparity among countries”, making such ideas “sound fresh” for many countries, Mr Wu added.